Secrets of the Night

Chapter 23

In that night neither of the siblings had really gotten any sleep. Philip had been way too furious about finding out that his sister was obviously sneaking out at night in men's clothing to meet up with someone. Most likely a man. If Marcus or the Grand Duke were to find out about that, the marriage was off. That much was for sure. This could never be known. And he would make sure that his dear sister would never EVER sneak out again at night.

He hadn't meant to mention the arranged marriage in that argument. It had just slipped. And maybe it hadn't been the worst moment possible. He would have probably told her one of the following days anyways and like that she would surely have enough time to digest the news and calm herself, before the meeting with Marcus. And Philip had a legit reason to keep her locked in her room until then.

Well, if she seemed like she could be trusted, he might allow her out of her room during the day time, when he could keep an eye on her, but the door to her room would be locked for the whole night. He would take care of that personally.

How had she even managed to sneak out at all? Where did she get those clothes from? They definitely weren't his, he would have noticed if there was something missing. And how long had she been doing that for? Just a couple of times or possibly for years already?

At least she must have been somewhat careful that no one saw her or at least found out who she was, or Philip would have surely heard people talking about it.

That still left open the question though, who she had been meeting up with. Philip was sure that it must have been a man. If she had wanted to have one of her friends over she could have asked him and he would have allowed it. There would have been no reason to sneak out and meet in the middle of the night.

Also as far as Philip was concerned Willow's friends weren't as crazy and adventurous as she was. He doubted that any of them would sneak off at night in men's clothing just to meet up with her. So it must have been a man. Oh she better have behaved herself around him.

There was a chance that whoever it may have been, didn't even know that she was a girl. Dressed up in men's clothing and with that cap. Philip had assumed her to be a boy too. The dark of the night hid most features well enough so one would just have to assume her to be a boy.

However did she even get to meet that man? Was it possible that it was one of his friends? Someone she had met as a little girl? But none of his friends would betray him like that. No it had to be someone else.

To figure that out, one would have to know whether she had sneaked out before she had met that man, or if she was sneaking out just to meet with him.

If the first one was the case, it was quite likely that it was someone that she had bumped into one night. Didn't she know how dangerous that could be? Especially for a girl. She could have gotten herself hurt or worse. There were a lot of crazy people out there especially at night.

If the latter was the case it had to be someone Philip had met before. Willow hadn't had a lot of chances to meet men in the past. It was really only when Philip had some of his friends over and she would happen to run into them or when they went out to get her a new gown, if she happened to need one. But that maybe happened once a year.

Ugh, Philip felt like he was getting nowhere with this.

The sun was starting to rise when he made his way downstairs again. He would have to inform the servants about the new rules for Willow. He didn't want anyone interfering with this. There was also some questioning if anyone had known about her sneaking off at night, but no one seemed to have noticed a thing.

It was really quite impressive how she managed to do that, but on the other hand so very stupid. God knows what could have happened to her.

Philip had instructed that Willow would have her breakfast in her room. She was not to be let out just yet. He would have to talk to her later. See if she regretted what she did and the things she said last night. It had been the first time she had actually stood up for herself in a fight between them and Philip hadn't liked it one bit. She had obviously been in the wrong and then she had the audacity to argue with him? It was quite clear that she had not accepted her place in this household yet. And it had been 3 years! Oh Philip would make sure she knew exactly where her place was and that she would never forget and overstep like that again.